


Better Together

by buzzbuzz34



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Rugby, Alternate Universe - Sports, Concussions, F/F, Language, vague descriptions of injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21947011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buzzbuzz34/pseuds/buzzbuzz34
Summary: South and CT are the best rugby players in the League.  When teams reformat, they wind up as reluctant teammates.  At first, they refuse to work together out of spite and pride, but, as their cooperation grows, they find that the person they've hated all this time isn't so terrible, and maybe they could be better together, on and off the pitch.
Relationships: Agent Connecticut/Agent South Dakota (Red vs. Blue)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Better Together

**Author's Note:**

> Written for @southicut on tumblr as part of the 2019 Red vs Blue Secret Santa! I hope you enjoy!!!

The Intergalactic Rugby League had teams spread out across all human occupied planets, and the competition was fierce. For the players on the field, the wars and troubles in systems near and far were forgotten in the thrill of the game, the rush of adrenaline, and the cohesiveness of an effective team. 

The leaderboards fluctuated often, but there were two players that always led the pack, the best of the best. When their teams met, they collided in sweat and blood and fury. Only one of them could be the best; they fought hard to prove that their competitor couldn’t compare. 

These games were true spectacles. Even vague fans of the sport would crowd into stadiums and bars to watch these two players rage against each other, ignoring the screaming of their bodies to triumph above all else. There were twenty-eight other players on the pitch, but they were secondary to the battle between these two, on the top of their own leaderboard. 

That is, until a new planet was settled and, therefore, a new team had to be founded. The IGL found a coach and staff, but the players were to be a mix of amateurs and established players in order to allow the new team a fair chance in the fixtures. And when the trade deals were made, these two rivals found themselves as teammates.

“This doesn’t change anything,” South spat in the locker room as she met her new teammate for the first time since their allegiances changed. “I’m still better than you.”

CT chuckled. “I don’t think so.”

“I lead the League in tries. Don’t think that’s going to change now just because you’re here.”

“Did you forget that I led the League in tries the two seasons before that?” CT stood up tall, a hand on her hip, with a raised eyebrow. 

“Oh, I haven’t forgotten,” South growled. “We’ll just have to see how it goes on the field when we get there, won’t we, Connie?”

“I told you not to fucking call me that!” 

South got the last laugh as she strutted off to their first practice as a team.

Practice went terribly. The amateur players that had been brought up into the League to fill out the new team were overjoyed at their position and looked forward to meeting and working with experienced professionals. The professionals, on the other hand, dragged along their own grudges and idiosyncrasies that made the dream of winning the League their first season vanish in about five minutes.

However, no one’s grudges could hold a candle to that between CT and South. They refused to pass to each other and occasionally tried to tackle their rival to the ground and claim the ball for themselves even though they were on the same team. When CT was meant to help lift South for a line-in, her hands ‘accidentally’ slipped. During a ruck, South’s foot kicked back into CT’s face while she reached for the ball. 

In a way, nothing changed. They still wound up blooded and swearing about their unspoken opponent. However, now they brought their whole team down with them. 

The first games for this new team were worse than anyone could imagine, with South and CT stopping to swear at each other in the middle of the pitch while play continued around them during their second match. Three games of this nonsense later, they were sat down in their coach’s office.

“If you two don’t start working together, you’re both out of the League.”

“You can’t do that!” CT cried as she rose angrily to her feet.

South, meanwhile, leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on the coach’s desk. “The League relies on us. They’ll just send us to different teams.”

CT added, “Which is the best thing for everyone.”

Their coach sighed. “I’ve spoken with the higher-ups. Even they’re getting tired of this. It was great for ratings when you were on opposite sides, but you’re not anymore. There are other players counting on you!” They exclaimed, gesturing to the locker room. “Do you know how well we could do if you would just pass to each other? Or at least stop sabotaging everything you do?” They pinched the bridge of their nose. “You’ve got two games to prove that you can work together. I’m not asking for a miracle, but _something_. Otherwise, you’re gone.”

South and CT filed out of the office when dismissed but didn’t complain until the door was closed and they were alone in the locker room to gather their things for the evening. 

“This is fucking bullshit,” South muttered as she slammed her locker shut. “We’re the best thing that’s happened to the League in ages. Do you know how much viewership went up since we started playing? A shitload. They can’t get rid of us.”

She’d paused between each statement, as if inviting CT to speak, but she contributed nothing. 

South wheeled around on her. “What, nothing to say? Don’t tell me you’re actually _afraid_ of getting kicked from the League.”

“No, not really. But…”

“Oh, god.”

“What if we did try to work together? I mean, we’re still going to fight, don’t get me wrong, I still hate your guts, but… we could be unstoppable. There’s kids here that look up to us.”

“That’s their problem.”

“Is it?” CT slung her bag over her shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe we’ve been going at this the wrong way. We’ve always been the best as individuals, but what if we can make this _team_ the best?”

“You going soft?” 

CT chuckled. “Maybe I am. Fame has been known to go to one’s head, after all. I’ll see you at practice.”

She exited the locker room, leaving South both annoyed and confused. During practice the following day, nothing substantial changed, except that there was less shouting between the team’s star players. South didn’t know what was going on. Was CT actually worried about getting booted from the League? _Would_ they actually get kicked from the League? Despite her insistence that they wouldn’t, she didn’t know that for sure. 

These thoughts raced through her head during each drill and scrimmage. The only thing that broke her from them was the ball landing squarely in her hands before she realized that CT had thrown it to her, and then she dropped it on the ground and froze.

Play continued and the coaches and teammates yelled at South for her sloppy catch, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. It felt weird to work with CT, it felt _wrong_. They’d been at each other’s throats for so long. 

The next time CT passed to her she caught the ball and kept running, dodging and weaving and scoring an excellent try. CT cheered with their teammates and held up her hand for a high five. South, to her surprise, gave her one without thinking. 

By the time of their next game, CT was passing readily to South, but South had not yet reciprocated the motion and instead chose to pass to other players, even when the move wasn’t optimal. It was enough to snap their losing streak and get their coach off their back, though, so it worked well enough. 

Two games later, South was out of options. If she kept running, she’d get tackled. On the other hand, the rest of her team would be swarmed the moment she passed to them. All except for CT. 

It went against every fiber of her being as she tossed the ball back to her on the far side of the field. The moment she released the ball, the tackle came and threw her to the ground with a mighty thud, dazing her so badly that she couldn’t see CT score a try, she could only hear the zealous reaction of the crowd. 

South was helped to her feet by her opponent and she took a second to right the world from spinning around her, just in time to see CT barreling toward her with a grin on her face. 

“Thank you,” she cried above the roar of the crowd and their teammates. 

“Maybe you’re right,” South admitted. “Maybe all those people telling us to work together had a point after all.”

A moment later, CT’s grin faded and was replaced by a worried look. “Are you okay? You look… kind of out of it.”

South scowled. “If you mean to-”

“I’m actually concerned about your wellbeing, but sure, go off. You took a hard hit. The doc should check you out.”

South’s head throbbed so badly that she allowed CT to wrap an arm around her and escort her off the field. She missed the rest of the game due to her concussion, even if she was well enough to throw things around in a rage over that decision. On the sideline, she was able to watch her team emerge victorious. 

A few days earlier, she would have been furious that CT led them to the win, herself barely involved in the picture. But now? Now, she found herself smiling as CT scored two more tries and laughing at that ridiculous victory dance she always did. 

She’d never felt like this when her other teammates did well, not on this team or any before. She was glad when they won, of course, but watching CT rally the team and give a rousing speech to win for South, injured on the sideline… there was something else there. It wasn’t just the concussion making her head spin.

South’s injury wasn’t too bad, and she was back practicing the same week, this time with a team that seemed lifetimes ahead of the one she left. South still felt some disgust at passing to CT or helping her in a ruck or line-in, but that bitterness slowly began to fade. Instead, it was replaced with something new that she couldn’t quite place, something she had no intention of investigating. The team was doing well. CT was leading the League in tries, but it barely bothered her anymore, so long as the team kept winning. 

That is, until one day when South was knocked to the ground in practice and CT was there to pick her up off the ground. The sincere worry in CT’s eyes… South couldn’t help but wonder if CT felt that same bubbling confusion in her chest when she looked at South.

Was she still holding onto CT’s hand?

The time for these thoughts was not in the middle of practice, staring into CT’s eyes for far too long. 

A few days later, they found themselves in the locker room later than their teammates, cleaning up and ready to head out for the night. South’s feet carried her over to CT, trying to find the right words to extricate her mess of emotions. 

“I guess you were right,” she finally said, and CT turned to face her. 

“About what?”

“About us working together. It’s better for the whole team. We’re better together than we were fighting against each other.”

“Wait, are you actually admitting I was right? And that being a team-player is a good thing? Are you sure that concussion didn’t mess you up too bad?” CT teased, and South couldn’t help but sigh and start to turn away. 

But a hand on her arm stopped her in her tracks and turned her back.

“I’m sorry,” CT replied. “I didn’t mean to make fun of you. But… seriously, I’m glad you think so too. I don’t think I’ve had this much fun playing in ages.”

“Me neither. Honestly. And… CT?”

“Hm?”

Were her hands shaking? Stop it, South, you’re better than this. 

Once her brain stopped blanking on the entirety of the English language, she admitted, “I think… if you want… maybe we could see if we’re better together off the pitch too?”

CT hesitated, her eyes scanning over South until the meaning of South’s words hit her. 

“Oh! Are you… like a date?” 

“It was stupid, I’m sorry. The two captains shouldn’t anyway, and I…”

“I’d love to.”

“Wait, really?” South asked, and CT giggled. 

“Yeah. When you’re not throwing things around on the sidelines about a bad call, you’re surprisingly pretty fun to be around. Never would’ve known that until we wound up on the same team. So… yeah.”

“I didn’t actually plan this much out,” South admitted with a chuckle. “So… are you free now? I know a decent bar where we can get some drinks and nobody will recognize us?”

CT closed her locker and grabbed her things, then turned back to South, a smile on her lips and a blush in her cheeks that mirrored that on South’s face. 

“Sounds perfect.”

There was a lot about CT that South had never known. She’d served in the military before playing rugby, which explained a lot about her finesse and physicality on the pitch. She liked to tinker with machinery and planned to open a repair shop when she retired from the League. And she still threw knives, a hobby she’d picked up during her service. South found out about all of these things over several dates and many more drinks, and the last fact after a particularly shocking round of darts that ended with a steak knife embedded in the board. 

At some point, after far too many drinks, South ended up at CT’s apartment, and then another night CT ended up at South’s, and at one point they found themselves alone in the locker room again, their lips meeting with a passion greater than anything they’d ever felt on the pitch. 

Every moment they spent together, while playing rugby or going through the motions of life away from the game, South found herself falling for CT. They still bickered a great deal, of course. But now their arguments could conclude with a joke or a kiss, and somehow it was all okay. 

They were the team captains, though, and they were about to head into the championship games, so their relationship had to be kept under wraps. 

Or, that’s what South thought. 

“Can we go somewhere else, maybe? Not that I don’t like that place, but we go there all the time,” CT requested when South asked her for drinks at their usual bar again one evening.

“Nobody knows us there.”

“I get that, but-”

“We can’t just go out as a couple in public,” South insisted quietly. “Not now that we’re going into playoffs. It could throw off the whole team dynamic.”

“Maybe I don’t want to care about that?” CT said quickly, then sighed and lowered her gaze. “I don’t want to hide this.” She gestured between herself and South. 

“It’s against League rules, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not. I looked.”

“Oh. Well, that’s one problem out of the way. But… I still worry about the effect it could have on the team, if they find out that their captains are… together…”

“Okay, I get that, I do,” CT admitted. “What about after the season? I don’t want to keep hiding.” She found herself reaching out for South’s hand, and South found herself reaching out in the same way, before pulling her hand away. 

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” South said. 

CT sighed again, then grabbed her bag. “We can talk about it when the season ends, I guess. But, uh, drinks tonight, I think I’m going to take a raincheck. I need to… think. Yeah.”

With that, she was gone, and South was alone, acutely aware of CT’s tangible absence and how much her heart longed to race after her and shout the way she felt about her from the rooftops. 

Even though she’d started to know more about CT and craved to know every little detail, rugby had been her first love, and she wasn’t about to risk throwing away a championship for a relationship, not yet. Maybe after the season…

What if the League split them up and put them on different teams? South couldn’t imagine not seeing CT every day; just the thought caused her heart to ache.

CT and South didn’t speak about their relationship again before the first game of the championship fixtures. Their teammates knew something was up – it was obvious in their eyes – but they said nothing, and their enthusiasm didn’t fade. For many of them, this was the first playoff game of their career, and their nerves were already racing.

It had been months since South stopped refusing to pass to CT. It came naturally, now, to look for her on the pitch, in just the right position, and throw the ball to her, and CT passed readily to South as well. 

That is, until this game. CT barreled forward, her eyes focused ahead as she charged through tackles. She didn’t look to pass to South, even when it would have afforded their team the first try of the contest and South screamed for the ball.

At halftime, South tried to ask her about it, to try and make amends at least until the end of the game, but CT brushed her off. Communication had never been one of South’s strong suits, and she turned back to throwing things on the sideline when her frustration boiled over. 

When the second half started, their team was down seven points. They could easily make up the difference if only they worked together, but this time it was CT that held them back from that as she raced into trouble over and over again, refusing to rely on her teammates.

“Fucking pass to me!” South cried just before CT was tackled again. The ball spun out of her grasp and danced across the pitch.

South raced forward to scoop it up and score a try. It wasn’t a pass, but it _worked_. 

She turned back to help CT up, to congratulate her, to point out that they were better together, but she was concealed in a hoard of medical staff. 

“Is she okay?” She asked, running over to the huddle. 

CT was crumpled in the center of it, her leg bent at an awkward angle from the latest tackle, and blood covered her face. 

None of the medics addressed South, more focused on their patient and getting a stretcher out for her. 

“Is she going to be okay?” She yelled louder, finally grabbing a medic by the shoulder and shaking them until they answered.

“We’ve got to get her to the hospital. Her leg is very broken, and we think she may have suffered some cranial trauma.”

“I’m coming with her.”

“Ma’am, that’s not necessary. She’s going to be well taken care of, and you need to finish the game.”

“South…” CT gasped from the stretcher they’d gotten for her, reaching out her hand. South took it immediately. “I’m sorry. I should’ve passed to you.”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter. You’re what matters. They’re going to fix you up, we’re going to get you to the hospital.”

“Win the game for me, will you?” She smiled.

“I’m coming with you. I’m not leaving your side.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, yes I do,” South insisted, glaring down a medic that gave her a questioning glance. “I don’t care about the game. I mean, I _do_ , but I care about you more. I was an idiot before.”

CT chuckled, then coughed and clutched her chest as the medics lifted her up and began to lead her away to the waiting ambulance. 

South quickly snatched the captain’s armband from CT and then removed her own. She sprinted across the pitch and to where her team had huddled up to discuss their next steps, then handed the armbands to two of the amateurs recently turned pro who’d done a better job keeping the team together back when South and CT were bickering than anyone else did.

“You’re the captains now. I’ll be at the hospital.”

“Uh… what?”

South glanced at her coach, who simply gave her a small nod before calling the team back together. South sprinted back across the field and crawled into the ambulance alongside CT and some confused looking EMTs. 

“You aren’t allowed to be in here.”

“She’s my girlfriend. I’m not leaving her.”

“South… there’s cameras…”

Media personnel had naturally followed the happenings, and their cameras still hovered at the edge of the ambulance before they were forced out by an EMT who slammed the door on them. 

South reached out for CT’s hand again and squeezed it tight. “I don’t care. Maybe our team will freak out, maybe the League will put us on different teams, but I’m not going to leave you, not now.”

CT couldn’t help but smile. The ambulance started up and began to rumble on its way, when CT whispered, “I love you, South.”

“I love you, too. They’ll get you patched up. You'll be fine. And I’ll be there.”

At the hospital, CT was taken to a surgical room immediately, and South was left to pace angrily in a waiting room. She understood the waiting, but she wasn’t happy about it. When she was finally let into CT’s recovery room, she pulled a chair up as close as she could and held onto CT's hand until she woke up from the anesthesia, and then she held onto her even tighter. 

Their team showed up a couple hours later, the whole group pouring into the tiny hospital room. They’d won, even without their star players. Turned out the 'working together' thing had its benefits, and they’d all improved to the point that the team could thrive even without a couple pieces. 

CT’s injuries took her out of the game for the rest of the season, and she finally talked enough sense into South to get her to go play through the rest of the championships. But when South wasn’t at practice or in a game, she was at CT’s side. They still didn’t know what would happen when the season ended, if one of them would be traded or if the League would implement some rule against their relationship, but for the time being, it didn’t matter. They were together. 

And, after all, they were better together. 


End file.
